Introduction

Hi there, my name's Claude and I'm a culinary whore. What does that mean? Well, it means that I think and talk about food almost constantly. I'm the guy that talks about what I made for dinner tonight while out at a bar and makes you hungry even though you've already eaten. I even took a part-time job at Williams-Sonoma just because I was spending too much money there and needed the discount. I'm also a culinary whore in the sense that I perhaps because of my heritage (French/Japanese) and having lived all over the world (really, on all inhabitable continents), I like to pick and choose and combine ingredients and flavors. Sometimes it's sensational, other times... well... although I have enough experience these days to instinctively know what does and doesn't work about 99% of the time. Hey, I've been cooking for over 20 years and experimenting all that time.

This is an outlet for my culinary creativity -- I've had enough people ask, so I decided to share on a broader level than having cooking classes at home for friends. I'm constantly trying new combinations of flavors in my head, and I consider cooking to be therapeutic. One of the first things my partner David heard from me when we started dating was that the worse the day I have, the more elaborate dinner tends to become. Have I been to culinary school or been formally trained? No. That being said, I do have a killer instinct when it comes to flavor. And I do know what and how to do a "brunoise" and I can make "demi-glace" from scratch... not that I do that often in my small-ass kitchen.

Join me here for my ramblings and recipes. I probably will start posting on things like what kitchen equipment you should buy, and what items at your local gourmet purveyor actually are worth the premium. Also, I'm going to start posting a once-weekly culinary challenge with an ingredient and a "keyword" such as a cooking method. I welcome each and all of you to participate and join the discussion. The rules are simple. Just use the ingredient and follow the keyword, and then post your proudest creation that fits the bill. If you can plate it pretty and take a picture to make everyone drool, even better. I'll collect all the recipes, and set up a recipe bank at some point when there's enough to go in. Just do me a favor, if you want to look at another recipe for inspiration (nothing wrong with that), just change it around a bit. The whole point of this is for me and you to try new and interesting things.

Happy Cooking!